


I'll be your secret and you'll be mine

by janie_tangerine



Category: Sirens (UK)
Genre: Bets & Wagers, Dating, Fluff and Crack, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Post-Canon, bc they're idiots and they have to subvert tropes like that, pretending to not date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 21:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10579725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: in which they both pretend theyaren'tdating to avoid noisy questions. It backfires spectacularly.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A while ago an anon asked for _Ash/Stuart, pretending that they're NOT dating?_ and I miss this fandom and it needs more love so here we go, other re-post of the weekend. The title is from a bon jovi song (sorta edited) and nothing belongs to me, too bad bc if they did we'd have gotten season two. *stares badly at channel 4 forever*

Admittedly, it takes longer this time for the post-endorphines haze to end and harsh reality to kick in.

It’s probably telling that the moment the horrible, alarming picture displays in front of Stuart and he turns on his side to look at Ash, Ash does _exactly_  the same and sporting an equally alarmed expression on his toofuckingattractiveforwords face, not that Stuart still has come to terms with the fact that they just fucked, that it was _good_ , that he wants to do it again and that Ash hasn’t kicked him out yet.

“Rachid won’t let us live this down,” Ash says.

“ _Maxine_  won’t ever let me live this down,” Stuart replies.

“Most people I _know_  will just - never mind,” Ash groans.

“What?”

“Er, nothing. Let’s just say that you’re kind of an exception to my type. Whatever. Long story. Also my mum has been nagging at me to find myself a _nice someone_  to settle with for ages and - you really don’t want to deal with her now.”

Stuart doesn’t say _thank fuck but I think I wouldn’t mind doing it in the future_.

It’s probably too early with this kind of shit.

“It’s not a, uh, problem because -” Ash starts, and Stuart just stops him before he can finish.

“No, it’s not about losing my precious heterosexual man credit, I can’t give a fuck about that, but - most people we know are nosy as fuck and you know that.”

Ash groans in agreement.

“And - I don’t know, we just started, I think it’s bloody unchartered territory for both of us, maybe telling them isn’t a good idea for now.”

“That’s why _you_  are my I.C.E.,” Ash snorts, “you _can_  make sense when your put your brains to use. Not most of the time, but -”

“Sod off, Ash. I’m still angry that you didn’t fucking tell me before I had to find out by _accident_ , but never mind. So, uh, should we just - pretend we _aren’t_ , you know, doing _this_?”

Ash sends him a _look_ and then he shakes his head as his mouth curls up into a smile and damn but Stuart he’s over in his head here.

“Well, can’t be too bloody hard. _You_  haven’t dated people in ages, I just - don’t really _date_  and it’s not like we _dated_  on the workplace, should be a piece of cake.”

“Good. Now how about a round two?”

Turns out, Ash is much up for a round two.

–-

In theory, it should have been easy.

They’ve been mates for a hell of a long time, it’s not like they _dated_  each other first, they both haven’t seen anyone regularly in ages, they should just behave like usual and it shouldn’t be _hard_  at all.

Instead, the day after, when they come in separately, Stuart has to kill with fire the instincts of going up to Ash and make out savagely in front of the ambulance, but the bastard has most probably taken a shower and maybe it’s that he’s having a good hair day and he looks even more toofuckingattractiveforwords than usual. He bites down on his tongue and goes up on the ambulance.

“Everything okay, mate?” Rachid asks as Stuart starts the engine.

“Yeah, why?”

“It looks like you swallowed a lemon, but okay,” Rachid shrugs.

Fucking hell.

–-

They’re out for drinks. All three of them, Maxine and her colleague, Ryan. Everything’s going as usual.

There’s also a guy standing at the bar that’s definitely Ash’s type.

(As in, tall, black, basically exuding alpha male from every inch of themselves. Hey, Stuart _knows_ , okay? They were friends before they were - well. Whatever it is they are now.)

At some point silence falls and everyone but Stuart looks at Ash.

“… Er, what?” Ash says, taking a long drink from his beer bottle.

“I was just wondering,” Rachid says, and then glances at the guy at the bar.

Ash legitimately chokes on his drink. “Yeah, _so_?”

Ryan smirks and stares straight at Ash. “Well, that guy’s alone and available. I seem to remember you had a _type_.”

Ash looks like he’d pay in order for the ground to swallow him whole. A part of Stuart thinks that maybe he should go, if _that’s_ what he likes in a guy -

“You know I don’t _have_  to hit on everyone I could potentially shag, right?”

“… Are you _seeing_  someone?” Maxine suddenly asks.

Ashabout coughs that beer over the tabletop. “What the hell?”

“This isn’t normal.”

“Fuck, maybe I don’t feel like that tonight? What the hell’s wrong with all of you?”

No one else seems convinced. Stuart is kind of touched. He sends Ash a text later while he’s getting home just so that he knows that was appreciated, then realizes that _he’s turning into the person sending texts to the guy they’re dating and shit what’s wrong with him_?

–-

The last thing he expect is for Ash to drag him by the arm into the first available storage room the moment they’re done with their shift some couple of weeks later.

A couple weeks made of _pretending, pretending and pretending_ , seeing each other off work maybe a couple of days each week but always in places where their friends can’t see, of an amount of sexual frustration Stuart hadn’t known someone could physically experience and a serious amount of jokes about him having rubbed off on Ash since he’s obviously not getting any either, these days.

“What -” Stuart starts, and then Ash kind of moves up against the wall still dragging him by the lapels of his uniform.

“Listen, this is - I _can’t_ , okay? I thought I could but it’s driving me mad. I can’t with faking it, and just, okay, I’m sure I’m rubbish at seeing people regularly, you probably have _worse_  issues than I do which says all pretty much, but like, shit, when I said that my emergency contact was someone I didn’t want to _fuck_  I also might have meant that with _them_  I could, well, _not just fuck_ , so maybe we should just - stop? I mean. Not seeing each other. Pretending we aren’t seeing each other. _Whatever_. Bloody hell, this is just so ridiculous -”

Stuart thinks he’s heard enough.

“Yeah, okay, sure, I couldn’t take it either.”

Then he proceeds on pushing Ash up against the wall and going in for the savage making-out he had been telling himself he _didn’t_  necessarily want up until ten minutes ago.

Shit, it feels so _liberating_  he doesn’t even think about how much shit they’re going to get from this.

–-

“Wait. _You_  two are -”

“Yes,” Ash says without sounding like he gives much of a fuck when they come into work together the day after and Stuart had a hand around his waist when they were going towards the ambulance.

Rachid just _looks_  at them as if he can’t make sense of it.

“But - is it _recent_?”

“Last month,” Stuart cuts him. “Why’s that, I’m not enough of _his type_  for you?”

Rachid looks at the two of them again, then shrugs. “Damn, I owe Maxine now.”

“ _What_?”

“She said you two were together since Ash here decided to _not_  hit on that guy, but we didn’t believe her. Damn, you could have _warned_  me, I wouldn’t have, like, bet money. But other than that congratulations I guess, there had to be a reason why the two of you weren’t as insufferable, lately.”

Then he goes and climbs on the ambulance and - okay. That went better than one could have thought, but -

“They _knew_?” Ash asks.

“Guess we’re shit at being subtle. So, are we going in already? I had plans for the end of the shift.”

“You had _plans_?”

“If I’m bloody dating you I might at least attempt to take it somewhat seriously,” Stuart blurts, and he’s not _ever_  telling Ash that he might have found a place for breakfast somewhat classier than their usual. Not by much but then again he can hardly bring him out to fucking dinner if they have the night shift.

“Why,” Ash replies, “looking forward to it, then.” He also seems like he’s genuinely happy about it, and whatever, maybe the two of them don’t even know how to navigate this kinda thing in the first place but it looks like they might be figuring it out and it’s not feeling so daunting at all.

 

End.


End file.
